Los Vaqueros grows in size, popularity

Wednesday

Mar 6, 2013 at 12:01 AM

The Coast Range, with its rocky escarpments and grassy green hillsides dotted with oak trees and splotches of wildflowers, has held a special place in my heart since I grew up and cavorted around Hollister and its vast vistas more than 50 years ago.

Peter Ottesen

The Coast Range, with its rocky escarpments and grassy green hillsides dotted with oak trees and splotches of wildflowers, has held a special place in my heart since I grew up and cavorted around Hollister and its vast vistas more than 50 years ago.

They say you can't go home, but in my mind's eye, I can find solace and that special feeling just an hour's drive from Stockton at Los Vaqueros Reservoir, set in the coastal mountains off Vasco Road between Byron and Livermore. It is a world apart from the Central Valley and the Sierra foothills.

The vast 18,500-acre Los Vaqueros watershed is owned and tightly controlled by the Contra Costa Water District and the reservoir has been enlarged to hold a capacity of 160,000 surface acres, causing a "new lake syndrome" because of the added nutrients available to fish - trout, striped bass, largemouth bass and catfish.

Currently, the lake is 116,000 surface acres and rising, inundating trees, native grasses and bushes to provide abundant food and cover for fish. Water is pumped from the Delta and along with it comes a variety of species, including threadfin shad baitfish. Recently, a 34-pound striped bass was caught, not to mention stocked trout to 10 pounds.

King salmon are planted as fingerlings and have a four-year run to maturity, with monster-sized catfish and trophy-sized largemouth also available, though much more difficult to hook.

With the 50-percent increase to the reservoir's size, the marina has been moved to higher ground, complete with handicapped access to the water's edge, including a special fishing dock and berths for the rental boat fleet. Private water craft is not permitted, but 16-foot boats with efficient electric motors can be rented for $25 for five hours during mid-week, the best bargain around.

Because there is no bodily contact with the water nor gas motors allowed, there is a pristine quiet that seems to prevail, affording visitors the chance to see deer, wild turkeys, osprey, golden eagles, waterfowl and rattlesnakes, which have made an early-spring appearance. Last week, a mountain lion was spotted strolling the hills on the north end.

"This is really a neat park with more wildlife here than anyplace I can think of," said Chris Senti, manager of Urban Park Concessionaires that operates the multiple use activities. "People can come here and enjoy a shaded picnic table with fire pit, fish from miles of shoreline or simply recreate, whatever they choose."

On Thursday, Senti recommended we try toplining in a wind-protected cove, trolling close to the shoreline and flooded vegetation. We discovered the pattern rainbow trout preferred, lures like Rapala in the fire tiger colors, about 8 feet deep and just 90 pulls behind the quiet electric motor.

After starting about noon and fishing for three hours in a stiff north wind, we hooked a dozen trout to 31/2 pounds and a striped bass, all the while surrounded by the steep Coast Range with its green grass contrasted against a cloudless blue sky.